Ski Touring Itinerary
The itinerary presented here is purely an example of what might happen in a perfect week and could be changed due to circumstances beyond the control of the Guides, including adverse weather conditions.
Day 1. Arrival Day
The group will rendez-vous at the Chamonix Experience Office in Argentière, just a few kilometres from Chamonix. Here, we will have an informal chat about the upcoming week. There will also be a chance for the guide to check out your clothing and gear and to decide if you need to pick up any further items of equipment before setting out in the morning.
Day 2. Warm up and introduction to gear and techniques
After breakfast, we will take the lift up to the Grands Montets. We will start the day with a couple of warm-up runs to check out everyone’s skiing ability. After that we take the cable car up to the top which offers spectacular views of legendary summits like Aiguille Verte and Le Dru. On the way down the back we get a first introduction to skiing on glaciated terrain. When we reach the Argentière glacier we put our skins on and skin up the Glacier des Amethystes to the Col du Tour Noir. This is an easy and gentle skin that gives us a chance to get familiar with gear and techniques.
Day 3. Col des Autannes
Today we will head up to Le Tour at the very end of the Chamonix valley, right on the Swiss border. We only have about 2 1/2 hours of uphill, with possibly a bit of bootpacking depending on the conditions. That leaves us some time to train using transceivers and learning about avalanches.
On the other side of the Col des Autannes we find ourselves in Switzerland and a whole new valley leading down to the Swiss village of Trient. The ski descent is long but nothing too steep or technical.
Day 4. Ski Tour in the Vallée Blanche area
An exploration of the Chamonix valley has to include a visit to the Aiguille du Midi and a ski tour from there. This is a fairly easy day with a ski tour across the top of the Vallée Blanche to the Italian side, Point Helbronner. From here we have a magnificent view of Gran Paradiso, our goal for the end of the week.
We have some time to review glacier travel techniques before the fantastic descent down the Italian Vallée Blanche and back to Chamonix.
Day 5. Aiguilles Rouges and Col de Beugeant
The fourth area we will discover is the Aiguilles Rouges, which has many ski touring possibilities. To avoid the main crowds we head up to Col de Beugeant. This is a lovely ski tour passing the popular summer trekking destination, Lac Blanc. It involves a short scramble at the end, which is good practice for the end of the week. The descent follows the north facing slopes on the other side of the range so the snow often stays good quality.
We finish in the charming little alpine village of Le Buet where we can enjoy a cold drink in the sun before catching the valley train back to Argentière.
Day 6. Short drive to Italy and skin to the Vittorio Emanuele refuge
We have about a one hour drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy and up Valsavaranche. Gran Paradiso is a National Park with a rich animal life and no lifts in sight. Normally we can skin from the car park at the very end of the road. After about 2 1/2 hours of skinning we reach the Vittorio Emanuele refuge, 2,775m. It is a nice refuge with good food and ambiance.
Day 7. Ski the Gran Paradiso and return to Chamonix
Today we have the longest ascent of the week, about 4 1/2 hours before we reach the summit. We leave the skis by the foot of the summit ridge for a short scramble to the Madonna statue at the top. The stunning views look back toward the Mont Blanc range one way and over flatter terrain in Italy the opposite direction. After this effort follows the reward for the long skin, your first ski descent from a 4,000m summit.
We are passing by the refuge on the descent so there is a chance to stop for a light lunch before continuing down to the car in the valley. Drive back to Chamonix.
Day 8. Departure Day
Services end after breakfast.
